U.S. SENATE —Senator Steve Daines today called on the Obama administration to ease red tape regulations stifling Montana’s energy future.
During a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining hearing on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposed rule, entitled “Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resources Conservation,” Daines pressed the Obama administration on burdensome costs to American innovation and that further stifle oil and gas production in Montana while having a miniscule impact on global climate change.
“In Montana, oil and gas activity is at the lowest it’s been in decades. It’s clear our federal government needs to be better at incentivizing production – recognizing that we’re facing some real headwinds in pricing – and I’ve heard from concerned Montanans that this proposed rule does the exact opposite,” Daines stated. “Now, Montana has immense oil and natural gas potential – in fact, we have more recoverable coal than any state in the union – yet we’re ranked 19th in total oil and gas production. What’s even more disheartening, applications for permits to drill in Montana have dropped 80 percent from 2008. And that’s significantly more that the overall national drop of 47 percent.”
Click to watch or download part one of Daines’ remarks.
Click to watch or download part two of Daines’ remarks.
“America has a great opportunity to responsibly grow our production and meet domestic and global demand. This not only benefits us, it benefits our allies overseas, and ultimately securing our own energy future,” Daines continued. “I’m also very proud of the fact as Americans we can claim we are the world’s leading producer of oil and liquids surpassing both Saudi Arabia and Russia and that puts us in a much more secure place economically from a national security viewpoint. Unfortunately, like similar rules coming out of this administration, the one we’re discussing today seems to have the unintended consequences of stifling the innovation that states and the private sector are capable of.”
Daines has long fought to protect Montana jobs and access to affordable energy from the Obama administration’s overreach. He recently held a two and half day Energy Summit in Billings, Montana following a 10-city energy tour across the state.
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